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Airborne Contagious Disease
Published in Harriet A. Burge, Bioaerosols, 2020
Isolation involves either placing an infected person in an enclosed environment to prevent exposure of anyone else, or isolating a particularly susceptible person to prevent exposure to any agent. Before the development of immunization and antibiotics, control of contagious diseases centered on preventing exposure by isolating infected people. For example, many tuberculosis patients were treated in sanitaria, and quarantine signs were placed on the doors of homes of children with some kinds of contagious disease. Isolation can be an effective method for control, providing the room air is exhausted directly to the outside (i.e., not recirculated), and the room is under negative pressure so that when the door is opened particles cannot spread to adjacent areas (Figure 2.1). Practically speaking, transmission of many contagious diseases happens in public places. Symptoms that allow dissemination can occur before the infected person or the potential host is aware of the nature of the illness, and infected people may continue to occupy public spaces (e.g., work spaces) even when they know they have a contagious disease. Also, the airborne nature of some contagious diseases remains unrecognized.
Microbiological Hazards
Published in Dag K. Brune, Christer Edling, Occupational Hazards in the Health Professions, 2020
Transmission describes the movement of the infecting organism from the source to the host. Detailed knowledge of the route of transmission makes it possible to stop the spread of the organisms. The control measures will vary according to how transmission occurs, whether it is by contact, air, common vehicle, or vector. It is important to acknowledge that some organisms may be transmitted by various routes. For many infectious diseases, interruption of the route of transmission is the most important control measure. In particular, interruption of contact spread by proper handwashing may still be the most important single preventive procedure, both within health institutions and in the community.12 Other means of interrupting the transmission is by judicious use of gloves, masks, and gowns. The CDC, Atlanta, GA has published detailed guidelines for isolation precautions in hospitals.13
Physical Hazards of Space Exploration and the Biological Bases of Behavioral Health and Performance in Extreme Environments
Published in Lauren Blackwell Landon, Kelley J. Slack, Eduardo Salas, Psychology and Human Performance in Space Programs, 2020
Julia M. Schorn, Peter G. Roma
Prolonged isolation is well established as a negative stressor. The limited communications bandwidth and the up to 22-minute delay each way compounds the stress involved in LDSE missions. Moreover, the lack of real-time communication with mission control, medical and behavioral health operations support, family, and friends may contribute to feelings of isolation and adversely impact health and performance (Kanas et al., 2007; Kass, Kass, & Samaltedinov, 1995). Currently, ISS crew members work in rotation approximately every three months and receive a regular supply of goods. However, a planetary mission to Mars allows for no crew rotation or resupply, which means crews will likely not receive care packages, fresh food, or an influx of new crew members, all of which psychologically contribute to more isolation. Perceived isolation has contributed to depression-like symptoms among astronauts on the four-month missions to Mir space station (Burrough, 1998) and ISS astronauts have reported similar symptoms in other studies (Stuster, 2010). At a team level, isolation leads to decreased morale and interpersonal tensions (Sandal, 2001), as well as decreased communication between crew members (Kanas et al., 2007). Astronauts may focus on their own priorities, away from team goals, due to the stress induced by isolation (Orasanu, 2009).
Analysis of parametric optimization on the design of negative pressure room
Published in Advances in Building Energy Research, 2023
Ghaim Man Oo, Komsilp Kotmool, Mongkol Mongkolwongrojn
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), also known as COVID-19, emerged in December 2019. COVID-19 proliferated globally, prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a public health emergency of international concern. The outbreak of this virus, as an airborne contaminant, can primarily be detrimental, and can spread through human-to-human transmission. Several healthcare workers were infected with COVID-19 as a result of close contact with confirmed COVID-19-positive patients. To abate COVID-19 transmission, three infection control measures were established, namely, isolation of the infected patients, use of facemasks, and hand hygiene (Zhang et al., 2020). Consequently, several hospitals use isolation rooms to treat infected patients and reduce the transmission of the disease (Tamil Selvan et al., 2021).
Automated prediction of COVID-19 mortality outcome using clinical and laboratory data based on hierarchical feature selection and random forest classifier
Published in Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering, 2023
Nasrin Amini, Mahdi Mahdavi, Hadi Choubdar, Atefeh Abedini, Ahmad Shalbaf, Reza Lashgari
An important weakness of routine rapid triage in a pandemic situation is the increased mortality rate due to missing high-risk patients (Liang et al. 2020). These patients might incorrectly be identified as mild and, without further workup, be advised to take a home-treatment approach. The disease has an unpredictable trajectory where the condition of some patients suddenly becomes critical, surprising even the most skilled physicians; this hampers physicians' performance by limiting their action time window. Furthermore, it has been shown that patients who later become critically ill carry significantly more viral loads even before their condition becomes critical (Siordia 2020). Thus, rapid isolation of high-risk patients is required to decrease infection spread. Our model using mentioned features could alleviate these problems by providing fast and accurate prognosis prediction after the first day of patient admission to support proper resource allocation and decision making and consequently avoid missing high-risk patients.
Going green: decreasing medical waste in a paediatric intensive care unit in the United States
Published in The New Bioethics, 2020
Zelda J. Ghersin, Michael R. Flaherty, Phoebe Yager, Brian M. Cummings
Another infection control measure with a high environmental burden is the handling of medical supplies in contact precaution rooms. Contact isolation precautions are used for infections that are spread by touching the infected patient or items in their room. This requires all hospital staff to wear gowns to cover their clothing and gloves when entering the patient’s room. The purpose of these precautions is to prevent the spread of infection to other patients. Strict guidelines set by infection control committees, following standards from JAHCO, require most of the contents in a contact precaution room to be discarded when the patient is discharged. While many supplies are stored securely away in medical carts and may never have been in contact with a patient or their providers, at the time of discharge they are often discarded for fear of possible contamination. Once a screening swab or viral panel is sent, the patient is placed in contact isolation until the results become available. Many times, patients are transferred or discharged with results still pending. These rooms are still considered isolation and all their contents must be discarded appropriately even when the clinical suspicion of transmittable infection is very low. These supplies are not recycled and end up in landfills, further contributing to the healthcare industry’s environmental footprint.